Kansas City’s “Dr. Dre of Insurance” aims to remix industry

Overland Park-based ClaimKit is planning to drop the beat on the insurance industry thanks to a new round of financing. The self-proclaimed “Dr. Dre of insurance policies,” ClaimKit CEO Chris Cheatham says the company’s $1.8 million round of financing will boost development of its second software product, RiskGenius. ClaimKit was able to lean heavily on local investors for the round, which was led by Leawood-based Flyover Capital. Startland News caught up with Cheatham to discuss the raise and the company’s plans moving forward. What was your experience raising funds in Kansas City?This was the second time through the fundraising gauntlet. Each fundraise is a unique animal and this one was no different. Keith Molzer was the first person I ever talked to about raising money in Kansas City back in 2013. I always had Flyover in mind for any future raise, and so I followed up and the rest is history.

What was it like to seek investors while pushing RiskGenius?It was a bit tricky to do a fundraise while launching a brand new product. I was telling people that RiskGenius was going to be huge, that it involved complex machine learning software, that insurance agents really needed it. Some people believed me, others did not. I really appreciate everyone that was willing to listen to our story and provide feedback.

What’s it mean to ClaimKit to have a local lead investor in the company?I really wanted our new product, RiskGenius, to be a Kansas City creation. The insurance agencies have been so generous with their time and expertise to explain how insurance policies are reviewed. Finding a local investor, like Flyover, is another piece to the puzzle. I want RiskGenius to be the biggest software-as-a-service company to come out of Kansas City. I am glad the community will be a part of this journey.

What are the funds going toward?The funds will be used to finish and sell RiskGenius. We will be able to keep tweaking and improving the algorithm that slices and dices insurance policies. We are at five employees and there are hiring plans in the short term.

What are some of the biggest challenges ClaimKit faces in the marketplace?The RiskGenius software that we are launching is fairly complex. It involves algorithms, machine learning and other crazy stuff. But at the end of the day, our customers, the insurance agents, are looking for a simple solution. Our customers are sick and tired of reviewing insurance policies on nights and weekends. So our challenge is to explain how RiskGenius solves their problems without getting unnecessarily into the weeds of what I consider to be really cool technology.

What are your long term goals for ClaimKit? To become the Google of Insurance Policies.

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